3/12. The House Rules Committee (HRC) reported
HRes 1041,
which "Provides for consideration of the Senate amendment to H.R. 3773", and a
House
amendment [2.5 MB PDF file] thereto. Rep. Steny Hoyer's (D-MD)
schedule for the House for March 13, 2008, lists consideration of HR 3773, subject
to this rule.

The House amendment would provide for prospective, but not retroactive,
immunity for companies that provided assistance to the government.

The HRC summary of the House amendment states that it provides "prospective
liability protection for telecommunications companies that provide lawful
assistance to the government. It addresses past activities under the
President’s Terrorist Surveillance Program by freeing telephone companies to
argue existing defenses before the court in pending lawsuits, notwithstanding
the Government’s assertion of the state secrets doctrine".

The House amendment would also create a commission with subpoena power to investigate
the government's use of FISA authority.

On March 12, 20 of the 23 Democrats, and none of the Republicans, on the
House Judiciary Committee (HJC), signed a
statement
[6 pages in PDF] opposing granting retroactive immunity.

The wrote that "As a result of our review of classified as well as
unclassified materials concerning the Administration's Terrorist Surveillance
Program, we have concluded that blanket retroactive immunity for phone companies
is not justified. However, we do recommend a course of action that would both
permit the carriers the opportunity to defend themselves in court and also
protect classified information -- by eliminating current legal barriers and
authorizing relevant carriers to present fully in court their claims that they
are immune from civil liability under current law, with appropriate protections
to carefully safeguard classified information. In addition, we recommend
legislation to fill a current gap in liability protection for carriers, and to
create a bipartisan commission to thoroughly investigate the legality of the
warrantless surveillance program."

Rep. John
Boehner (R-OH), the House Republican leader, stated in a
release on March 11 that "This latest FISA proposal from House Majority
leaders is dead on arrival. It would outsource critical national security
decisions to unelected judges and trial lawyers. It would hand over valuable
national security oversight to a new commission charged with handling matters
which already fall within the responsibilities of the existing House
Intelligence Committee. And it would leave patriotic third parties exposed to
unfettered and costly lawsuits at the hands of trial lawyers who are counting on
their allies in Congress to block real FISA modernization."

He added that "trial lawyers are dictating national security policies to this
Democratic Congress. ... And it’s time for rank-and-file Democrats to demand
that their leaders to put our national security first and allow an up-or-down
vote on the bipartisan Senate FISA bill. This latest proposal from House
Majority leaders is a sham, and it is clearly unacceptable to the U.S. Senate,
the President, and the American people."

The Senate passed a bill on February 12, 2008, that Bush supports, S 2248
[LOC |
WW],
the "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2007". The
House passed a much different bill on November 15, 2007, that Bush
vehemently opposes, HR 3773
[LOC |
WW],
the "Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed, and
Effective Act of 2007" or "RESTORE Act".

At the end of the week, the House commences a two week recess.

President Bush gave a
speech on Wednesday evening, March 12, 2008. One of his topics was FISA
reform legislation.

He said that "One of the things that we must do is to make sure that the
hundreds of people that are out working for you every night to protect you have
the tools they need. If the enemy, if the extremists who want to do America
harm, if the radicals who want to kill again like they did before on our
homeland are making phone calls into the United States of America, we need to
know who they're calling, what they're saying and what they're planning."

He continued that "The Congress came together last year and passed the
Protect America Act to give our professionals the tools they need.
Unfortunately, that act expired. But the threat to the United States of America
has not expired. Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in the House are continuing
to block bipartisan legislation that would give our intelligence officials the
tools they need to quickly and effectively monitor terrorist communications."

"And they are doing so despite the fact that legislation -- good legislation
to give our professionals the tools passed the United States Senate by an
overwhelming majority of 68 to 29. Instead of holding a vote on this bill that
would pass the House of Representatives, House leaders have introduced a highly
partisan and deeply flawed bill of their own. Their bill would put in place a
cumbersome court approval process that would make it harder to collect
intelligence on foreign terrorists and could reopen dangerous intelligence gaps
that we experienced last year."

He also addressed immunity. "Their bill fails to provide liability protection
to companies believed to have assisted in protecting our nation after the 9/11
attacks. Instead, the House bill would make matters worse by extending
litigation for years to come. In fact, House leaders simply adopted the position
that class-action trial lawyers are taking in billions of dollars of lawsuits
they have filed."

"Companies that may have helped us save lives should be thanked for their
patriotic service and should not be subjected to billion dollar lawsuits." He
elaborated that "This bill would require the disclosure of state secrets during
the litigation process. This could lead to the public release of highly
classified information that our enemies could use against us."

House Democrats and Republicans have been issuing statements, and speaking in
the House, on a regular basis. While most have focused on the legislative
process, political posturing, and the debate over retroactive immunity, some
have discussed the scope of surveillance going forward.

For example, On March 5, Rep. Mike Burgess
(R-TX) stated that "we're talking about not surveillance on someone who's in
Dallas calling someone who's in Washington. We're talking about surveillance on
someone who is in perhaps one of those federally administered tribal areas in
Pakistan or someone who's in Afghanistan communicating with someone in Iraq,
because that method of communication may be putting up a Web site. There may be
an embedded message on a Web site. But because that Web site may be carried on
wires that go through the United States of America, then suddenly it becomes
something that is under the jurisdiction, in some people's mind, of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act."

He continued that "in order to find out who put the Web site up,
you'd have to go through the FISA Court to get that information. But these Web
sites tend to be rather ephemeral. They don't stay up that long. But it's
problematic because you can't know who put up the Web site. You can't know who
visited the Web site. And if you need to, you can't take it down without going
through a 72-hour process in the FISA Court." See, Congressional Record,
March 5, 2008, at Page H1339.

EC Approves Google DoubleClick
Merger

3/11. The European Commission (EC) announced that it has approved the merger
of Google and DoubleClick, two U.S. companies. The companies announced the
merger in April of 2007.

The EC stated in a release
that "the merged entity would not have the ability to engage in strategies aimed at
marginalizing Google's competitors, mainly because of the presence of credible ad serving
alternatives to which customers (publishers/advertisers/ad networks) can switch, in particular
vertically integrated companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL. The market investigation
also found that the merged entity would not have the incentive to close off
access for competitors in the ad serving market, mainly because such strategies
would be unlikely to be profitable." (Parentheses in original.)

However, the EC noted that this decision "is based exclusively on its appraisal
under the EU Merger Regulation. It is without prejudice to the merged entity's
obligations under EU legislation in relation to the protection of individuals
and the protection of privacy with regard to the processing of personal data and
the EU Member States' implementing legislation."

Google announced in a March 11
release that "it has completed its acquisition of DoubleClick".

Google wrote in a second release that "Because we have been waiting for
regulatory approval for our acquisition, we've been limited by law in the extent
to which we could conduct detailed integration planning to map our way forward.
That work will begin in earnest now."

Google added that "users will continue to benefit from our commitment to
protecting user privacy following this acquisition".

House Approves 911
Resolution

3/10. The House approved
HRes 537 by
a vote of 381-0. See, Roll Call No.
108. This resolution "supports the designation of an appropriate month as
``National 9-1-1 Education Month´´ and the goals of such designation".

This resolution does not recite these "goals". However, the resolutions'
findings, and the floor statements of some of the supporters of this resolution,
suggest expanding the range of technologies covered by the Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC) 911 and E911 regulatory regime.

For example, the resolution does contain the following finding: "Whereas a growing
segment of the population ... are increasingly communicating with nontraditional text, video,
and instant messaging communications services, and anticipate that these services will be able
to connect directly to 9-1-1".

It also contains this: "Whereas the growth and variety of means of
communication, including mobile and Internet Protocol-based systems, impose
challenges for accessing 9-1-1 and implementing enhanced 9-1-1".

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) stated in the
House that "We must also continue to modernize this vital tool. There is a growing
population of citizens, otherwise unable to communicate clearly, who are learning to
communicate through new technologies such as text, video, and instant messaging. We should
strive to connect the use of emerging technologies to the 9-1-1 system." See,
Congressional Record, March 10, 2007, at Page H1422.

Last September the FCC issued another in a series of orders related to mandating and
increasing the accuracy of location tracking of wireless devices, including VOIP.

The FCC adopted its order on September 11, 2007, and released the text on November 20, 2007.
See, story titled "FCC Adopts E911 Location Tracking Accuracy Benchmarks" in
TLJ Daily E-Mail
Alert No. 1,640, September 17, 2007. This order is FCC 07-166 in PS Docket
No. 07-114, CC Docket No. 94-102, and WC Docket No. 05-196.

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint-Nextel, and the
Rural Cellular Association (RCA) filed petitions for
review, and motion for stay, pending resolution of the underlying petitions. These petitions
argue that the order is procedurally flawed because the FCC failed to comply with the
Administrative Procedure Act and imposed requirements that have no support in the FCC's record.
They further argue that they are unable to comply with the order, and hence would be
irreparably harmed by it.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell
wrote in a
statement [PDF] associated with the September order that it "is fraught with
highly dubious legal and policy maneuvering that bypasses a still developing
record on what should be the reasonable and appropriate implementation details".

This case is Rural Cellular Association and T-Mobile USA v. FCC and USA,
and consolidated cases, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, App. Ct. Nos.
08-1069, 08-1070, and 08-1076. See, February 20, 2008,
petition for review [PDF] of the RCA and T-Mobile, to which is attached the
FCC's order.

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information page.

3/12. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) released a tentative
agenda
[4 pages in PDF] for its event scheduled for March 19, 2008, titled "Open Commission
Meeting". This agenda includes six items, including a Report and Order regarding
"exclusive contracts" affecting apartment buildings.

1. The FCC's agenda states that the FCC is scheduled to adopt a Report and Order (R&O)
regarding "exclusive contracts for the provision of telecommunications services in
multiple tenant environments (MTEs)".

This agenda also states that the title of this proceeding is
"Promotion of Competitive Networks in Local Telecommunications Markets". The
agenda does not provide a proceeding number, but states that this is a
Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) item.

On October 31, 2007, the FCC adopted a Media Bureau
(MB) R&O that is based upon Section 628 of the Communications Act, and directed at cable
operators, but not other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). It asserts
regulatory authority over the content of contracts negotiated by owners of
multiple dwelling units (MDUs), such as apartment buildings, and cable companies.

However, that item also included a Further Notice of the Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that
asked "Does the Commission have the authority to regulate the use of exclusivity clauses
by MVPD providers not subject to Section 628." This FNPRM also addresses bulk billing
and exclusive marketing arrangements. March 7, 2008, was the deadline to submit reply
comments.

See also, pending legal challenges to the October 31, 2007, R&O: NCTA v.
FCC and National Multi-Housing Counsel, et al. v. FCC, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia, App. Ct. Nos. 08-1016 and 08-1017.

2. The FCC's agenda states that it is scheduled to approve a Fifth Report regarding the
"availability of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans", which
reports are required by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

3. The FCC is scheduled to adopt an R&O and FNPRM regarding collection of broadband
subscription and availability data. This proceeding is WC Docket No. 07-38.

4. The FCC is scheduled to adopt a Third Order on Reconsideration and Sixth Memorandum
Opinion and Order (MO&O) regarding spectrum sharing among incumbent and future services
in the 2495-2500 MHz band, and a Fourth MO&O, Declaratory Ruling (DR), and Second FNPRM
regarding changes to the service rules applicable to the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and
the Educational Broadband Service (EBS).

This event is scheduled for 9:30 AM on Wednesday, March 19, 2008, in the FCC's
Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th Street, SW. The FCC's recent events titled
"Open Commission Meeting" have rarely been held at the time announced by the FCC.
The FCC does not always take up all of the items on its published program. The FCC sometimes
adds items to the program without providing the "one week" notice required
5 U.S.C. § 552b. The FCC usually does not release at its events copies of
the items that it adopts at its events.

Washington Tech CalendarNew items are highlighted in red.

Thursday, March 13

The House will meet at 10:30 AM for legislative
business. It may consider
HConRes
312, the resolution on the budget for FY 2009, and HR 3773, the "FISA
Amendments Act of 2008". See, Rep. Hoyer's
calendar for week of March 10, and
schedule for Thursday.

9:30 AM. The House
Commerce Committee (HCC) will hold a hearing titled "Department of Commerce
Budget for Fiscal Year 2009". The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location:
Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep.
Hoyer's
calendar for week of March 10.

Extended deadline to submit initial comments to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the
Petition for
Declaratory Ruling [33 pages in PDF] filed by the
Public Knowledge (PK) and other groups on
December 11, 2007, pertaining to the regulatory status of text messaging services,
including short code based services sent from and received by mobile phones.
The PK requests that the FCC declare that these services are governed by the
anti-discrimination provisions of Title II of the Communications Act. See,
story titled
"Verizon Wireless and Net Neutrality Advocates Clash Over Text Messaging" in
TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No.
1,647, September 27, 2007. See also,
letter from Verizon
Wireless to NARAL dated September 27, 2007, and NARAL's
web
page titled "NARAL Pro-Choice America Wins Fight over Corporate Censorship".
See also, story titled "Public Knowledge Asks FCC to Declare that Blocking and
Refusing to Carry Text Messages Violates Title II" in
TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No.
1,686, December 11, 2007. This proceeding is WT Docket No. 08-7. See,
notice in the Federal Register, January 28, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 18, at Pages
4866-4867. See also,
notice [PDF] of extension, DA 08-282.

Deadline for recent law school graduates, graduating law students,
and judicial clerks to submit to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) applications for participation in the FCC's 2008 Attorney Honors
Program. See, FCC
notice
[PDF].

EXTENDED TO APRIL 28.Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in response to its Report on Broadcast Localism and Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking. The FCC adopted this item on December 18, 2007, and released the text on
January 24, 2008. It is FCC 07-218 in MB Docket No. 04-233. See,
notice in the Federal Register, February 13, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 30, at Pages 8255-8259.
See also, FCC's
Public Notice [PDF] (DA 08-393). See also,
Public Notice [PDF] (DA 08-515) extending deadlines.

Monday, March 17

St. Patrick's Day.

The House will begin is two week March recess. See, Rep. Hoyer's
2008
calendar [4.25 MB PDF].

Deadline to submit reply comments to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to
its two notice of proposed rulemakings (NPRMs) regarding service rules for the Wireless
Communications Service (WCS) and for terrestrial repeaters used in conjunction with the
Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS). These items are FCC 07-215 in WT Docket No.
07-293 and IB Docket No. 95-91. The FCC adopted these items on December 17, 2007, and
released them on December 18, 2007. See,
notice in the Federal Register, January 15, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 10, at
Pages 2437-2440.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in response to its Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding
cable carriage of digital television broadcast signals. The FCC adopted this item on
September 11, 2007, and released the
text
[68 pages in PDF] on November 30, 2007. This item is FCC 07-120 in CS Docket No. 98-120. See,
notice in the Federal Register, February 1, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 22, at Pages 6099-6101,
and story titled "FCC Adopts R&O and Further NPRM Regarding Cable Carriage of Digital
Broadcast TV Signals" in TLJ
Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,640, September 17, 2007.

Deadline to submit comments or original research to the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to its
workshop titled "Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace" to be held
on May 6-7, 2008. See, notice.

Tuesday, March 18

The House will not meet.

The Senate will not meet.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals
(DCCir) will hear oral argument in Sprint Nextel v. FCC, App. Ct. No.
07-1416. Judges Ginsburg, Sentelle and Brown will preside. This is a petition for review
of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Third Memorandum Opinion and Order in its
proceeding titled "Improving Public Safety Communications in the 800 MHz
Band". See, FCC's
brief
[PDF]. Location: Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) International
Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will hold one of a series of meetings to
discuss the U.S. positions for the March and April 2008 meeting of the ITU-T Study Group 3
and related issues of the international telecommunication regulations. See,
notice in the Federal Register, February 4, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 23, at Page
6547. Location?